Is it safe to turn on my central heating with cold tank empty?

[Best]

Use an air key to try to vent upstairs radiator. If water comes out the system is full to at least that level.

 

[biterbit]

Thanks for all the info. I checked the small tank and, although no water comes in (confirming the mains water issue), the tank has plenty of water in it. Also checked upstairs radiators with a key and they seemed fine. Central heating now on and working fine.

Thanks again.

 

[REDSAW]

the donkey who changed the ballcock to header tank has snapped the stopcock to the valve in the airing cupboard then.
couldnt be rsed to fix it by the sounds of it!!!!!

 

[thompsonbrown]

the donkey who changed the ballcock to header tank has snapped the stopcock to the valve in the airing cupboard then.
couldnt be rsed to fix it by the sounds of it!!!!!

Then blamed it on limescale.

 

[gassafe]

Never heard of limescale blocking a water mains pipe... Very suspicious !

 

[Dsp]

Never heard of limescale blocking a water mains pipe... Very suspicious !

It's an internal problem and the mains not blocked as op says she has water in the kitchen directly off the mains so I would say it's a dropped/damaged valve internally

 

[biterbit]

Thanks for the additional comments. The insurance company are saying they cannot fix the problem under the 'household emergency' cover as its caused by limescale build-up which is specifically excluded. From your comments it sounds like this is an unlikely explanation (it had also occurred to me that limescale would surely build up in the hot water pipes first before affecting the mains inlet). I don't know enough to understand the significance of the comment about the airing cupboard valve - but is there anything I can test to demonstrate that there is a different problem to the one they are suggesting?

 

[Dsp]

Will the accept liability and pay the bill for your plumber if it's not limescale??
Do you have a major limescale problem in the property??
To replace the ball valve in the tank the water must be isolated to fit a new one and more than likely the valve used has failed closed and not letting water past that would need replacing and not limescale

 

[Dsp]

Will the accept liability and pay the bill for your plumber if it's not limescale??
Do you have a major limescale problem in the property??
To replace the ball valve in the tank the water must be isolated to fit a new one and more than likely the valve used has failed closed and not letting water past that would need replacing and not limescale

 

[biterbit]

The insurance cover will pay for temporary work to fix an 'emergency' issue (eg, no power, water) up to £1500. They paid for an engineer visit, resulting in the tank ballcock replacement. When fitting the new one the water was turned off at the incoming mains (under the kitchen sink) and them turned back on. As far as I know (though I wasn't watching everything) that's the only thing that was done. When the mains stopcock was turned on again, water returned to the sink but nothing came out at the loft tank. That's when limescale was blamed.